Lucinoma taylori
Lucinoma taylori is an extinct species of bivalve, a marine mollusc, in the family Lucinidae. Fossils of the species date to early Miocene strata of the west coast of the Auckland Region, New Zealand.
Description
In the original description, Powell described the species as follows:
The holotype of the species measures in height, in length and a thickness of when measuring both valves. The species can be distinguished from L. borealis due to L. taylori having fewer concentric riblets and more widely spaces, and that the anterior and posterior radial sulci of L. borealis are almost completely obsolete. It can be distinguished from L. saetheri due to having a smaller size and having a shorter antero-dorsal margin.
Taxonomy
The species was first described by A. W. B. Powell in 1935 as Myrtea taylori. The current accepted scientific name is Lucinoma taylori. The holotype was collected at an unknown date prior to 1935 from fallen rocks at the southern end of Maukatia Bay, south of Muriwai, Auckland Region, and is held in the collections of Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Ecology
The species was a deposit feeding bivalve, that was likely preyed upon by the starfish species Pseudarchaster motutaraensis.
Distribution
This extinct marine species occurs in early Miocene strata of the Nihotupu Formation of New Zealand, on the west coast of the Waitākere Ranges of the Auckland Region, New Zealand. The deposits of the Nihotupu Formation in the western Waitākere Ranges where fossils of the species have been found are mid-bathyal.